Shoe polish



Patented Jan. 21, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,028,324. SHOE POLISH Hu'gh'P. "Griflin'and Robert lultich'ardson,

- Reidsville, N. o.

No Drawing". Application mm, 1934, $erial No. 732,735

solaims. (01. 134-4) up in liquid or paste form, necessitating packing,

storing, and shipment in bottles or other fragile 3Q containers subject to breakage due to rough handling during transit from manufacturer to user. It is well known that goods put up in'dry form are given preferential rates in shipment, in- -surance,'etc.; and, can be packed and stored more .5.compactly and with greater safety than liquid goods of the same general character.

it is, therefore, the main, object of this invention to provide a shoe whitening polish having the ingredients thereof mixed in dry form,

and adapted to be packed, stored and shipped in dry form, and to remain unchanged in character and condition until mixed with warm or hot water to form a paste adapted to be applied to leather or fabric to clean and whiten the same.

In this manner the cost of container is eliminated, the costs of storing, shipping, and packing are greatly reduced; and these reductions in cost can be passed on to the consumer.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent as the detailed description thereof proceeds.

The invention in its dry form consists of commercial lithopone, a mixture of barium sulphate and zinc sulphide especially treated, in mixture with trisodium phosphate and talc. To this mixture water is added in sufficient quantities to form a liquid polish ready for immediate use, the water reacting with certain of the constituents in order to produce a relationship between the ingredients advantageous in their collective function as a white shoe polish. The constituent compounds of lithopone, barium sulphate and zinc sulphide, may be substituted for lithopone in the mixture, without materially affecting 5 the qualities of the resulting polish.

The chemical reaction resulting from the addition of water to the dry mixture including lithopone or the constituents of lithopone is illustrated by the following equation:

It will be apparent that the barium sulphate, M the zinc sulphide and the talc have undergone no chemical change, while the trisodium phosphate and water have reacted to form acid "sodium phosphate and sodium hydroxide and this is the case whether the two first named ingredients are furnished in the form of commercial 5 lithopone or as separate compounds. v

The primary function of the trisodium phosphate isthat of cleansing, but since all the ingradients specified appear tobe essential 'to the perfection of the polish and that without the 0 talc the other ingredients will readily rub off, it is believed that the sodium hydroxide in the aqueous solution has a wetting eifectupon the leaf-like crystals which characterize powdered talc causing them to adhere closely to the litho- 15 p n a d b ndwit rm io th s a e o h leather. The lithopone and talc form the whitening pigments and with the sodium hydroxide serves to give an approximately neutral finished product, with entire absence of harshness or 20 tendency toward excessive dryness.

The dry ingredients are preferably mixed in the following proportions:

Grains Tri-sodium phosphate 120 26 Talc 700 Lithopone 700 When it is desired to set up chemical reaction and change the dry mixture to a liquid or paste 30 polish, it is preferable to add sufiicient water to form a finished product. About ten ounces of water added to the dry ingredients, proportioned approximately as listed above, will give satisfactory results. 36

The reactions indicatedby the chemical equations are effected by the addition to the dry ingredients of water at temperature ranging from 60 F. to 212 F. and is effected at a rate substantially proportional to the temperatures of the water. However, the water should be kept slightly below boiling point, because, under certain conditions water at the boiling point may cause release of sulphur fumes from the sulphur compounds of the dry mixture. 5

The tri-sodium phosphate in this polish is a convenient source of a low concentration of sodium hydroxide and of di-sodium phosphate. The sodium hydroxide cleans the leather, allowing the polish actually to come in contact with the leather surface of the shoe. The di-sodium phosphate crystallizes when the water evaporates from the polish, and acts as a binder to hold the white pigments in place.

Lithopone is an-extremely fine white pigment, 5g

easily wetted and having a rather harsh feel between the fingers. Tale is not so easily wetted, and has a rather soft or greasy feel. A mixture of talc and lithopone in the polish is quite different in properties from those of either ingredient; The exact nature of this difference is not understood; it appears that the small particles of lithopone fill in the minute depressions in the leather with white pigment, thus whitening the surface; while the somewhat fiat, flaky particles of talc cover the lithopone particles in a sort of leafing process, thus tending to hold the lithopone particles under the flakes of talc. This helps to prevent a dusting off of the polish; and, when the polish is dried, the tendency of the talc to resist wetting serves to make the polish substantially waterproof. From the peculiar binding effect brought about by the use of talc, it seems there must be at least an incipient action on the tale particles giving minute traces of silicate of soda, having some binding properties.

Lithopone with tri-sodium phosphate alone has been found to produce a very unsatisfactory chalky mixture subject to dusting off from the leather. The addition of talc eliminates this undesirable ehalkiness; and produces with the lithopone a smooth, substantially waterproof glossy polish.

The proportions of ingredients as given above are believed to give the best result. However, we have obtained more or less satisfactory results by varying the proportions of each ingredient from fifty percent below to fifty percent above the proportions listed above. Within this range, it has been found possible to vary the proportions of any one of the dry ingredients without seriously affecting the efliciency of the finished prod uct.

It will be evident that a relatively large amount of the polish in dry form can be made and shipped to the consumer at prices greatly reduced in comparison to the prices which must be charged for the same polish in liquid form. The dry mixture requires no expensive, fragile containers, requires less space for packing and storage than the same quantity of liquid polish; and it can be readily changed by the consumer to the liquid form whenever desired.

What we claim is:

1. Dry composition for white shoe polish comprising. a substance selected from the following group: lithopone, or barium sulphate and zinc sulphide, in mixture with talc and trisodium phosphate.

2. White shoe polish comprising a substance selected from the following group: lithopone, or barium sulphate and zinc sulphide in mixture with talc, trisodium phosphate and sufficient water to form a liquid suspension of the other ingredients.

3. Dry composition for white shoe polish comprising in mixture, lithopone, talc, and trisodium phosphate.

4. White shoe polish comprising an aqueous suspension of lithopone, talc, and trisodium phosphate.

5. Dry composition for white shoe polish comprising in mixture, barium sulphate, zinc sulphide, talc, and trisodium phosphate.

6. White shoe polish comprising an aqueous suspension of barium sulphate, zinc sulphide, talc, and trisodium phosphate.

HUGH P. GRIFFIN. ROBERT P. RICHARDSON. 

